Hungary’s largest battery electricity storage facility to date was inaugurated on Wednesday near the town of Buj in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County. The two installations, with a combined capacity of 99.8 MW, were built with more than 11.3 billion forints (31.7 million euros) in non-repayable EU funding.
At the event, András Tóth, State Secretary for Energy, highlighted that the facility will help increase competition in the Hungarian electricity market, reduce balancing costs, and lower electricity prices in the long term. This, he said, will contribute to building a more sustainable, secure, and affordable energy supply system in Hungary.
The State Secretary recalled that the project was realized with significant government support and belongs to the smaller group of investments financed through funds available under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) during the previous government. He stated that the Hungarian government’s main focus over the next three months will be to secure the remaining RRF funds allocated to projects that have not yet been implemented but were intended for similar purposes over the past three to four years.
András Tótth. Photo: MTI/Czeglédi Zsolt
The State Secretary emphasized that
approximately €1.5 billion of incoming RRF funds will be invested over the next four years in upgrading Hungary’s high-, medium-, and low-voltage electricity networks.
These developments are expected to enable the integration of around 5,000 MW of new renewable energy capacity, along with the associated energy storage facilities.
The Buj project was developed by Greenvolt Power, a subsidiary of the Greenvolt Group. João Manso Neto, Global CEO of Greenvolt Group, said that the energy storage facilities near Buj represent the company’s second investment in Hungary, and that its third project will be launched within weeks.
The company, which focuses entirely on renewable energy and is part of the U.S. investment firm KKR’s portfolio, operates in twenty countries across Europe, Asia, and North America.
Each of the two newly inaugurated battery energy storage units has a power rating of 49.9 MW and an energy storage capacity of 144.288 MWh. The beneficiaries of the investment are the companies Buj Energy Storage Ltd. and Buj Battery Ltd.
Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Czeglédi Zsolt
